Competitors test their skills in woodworking

What do a birdhouse, a bat house and a squirrel picnic table have in common? Well, besides sounding like something out of a cartoon. These happen to be items being built at a high school construction building competition. The Home and Garden Show at Exhibition Park is bringing together some young top builders to showcase their construction skills all week. The BILD Lethbridge Region and CAREERS are working together to put on the event. On Friday afternoon, high school competitors took on the unique challenge of building these strange but comical objects.

“We’re doing a birdhouse today so we’re trying to put together measurements and making sure it looks well. Cleaned and sized and everything. I think a big part is decorating too because I think 50 per cent of it is the actual build and rest of it is decorating. We’ve got to try to make it look good and work as a team. Just talking to each other is the biggest thing. Teamwork and communication,” says competitor Tyson Wever.

“What’s really nice about having this high school division is getting young people involved in building with their hands and falling in love with the trades. Often people go into it because their parents are into it or they’ve fallen into it. This is giving opportunities. To see young women and many of them wanting to be a part of this is heartwarming because we need everyone to join the industry. Having women there just elevates it,” states BILD Lethbridge Executive Director, Bridge Mearns.

16 students are participating and 10 of them are women. The winner each day will advance to the final on Saturday at 2pm to compete for the mantle of BILDer Grand Champion.

The winning team will receive $600 and second place gets $300. Third place will win a cool $175.